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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, December 2, 2019
THE TUFTS DAILY Jessica Blough Editor in Chief
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Red Line repairs speed up as students grapple with delays MBTA
continued from page 1 Getgey continued that the inconvenience may deter students from trying to go into Boston on the weekends if they don’t absolutely have to. “Getting into Boston … already takes about an hour. Adding an extra 30 minutes to accommodate the shuttle buses is frustrating because getting there and back is a three-hour commute. It’s almost not worth it,” she said. Lisa Battiston, deputy press secretary of the MBTA, acknowledged that the shuttle buses may run on a slower schedule than the Red Line due to traffic congestion. “As these Red Line shuttle buses are operating in regular street traffic, customers should budget some additional commuting time. While the shuttles are designed to account for some traffic and
BUSINESS Executive Business Director
congestion, the time between shuttle buses can certainly be subject to changes and fluctuations due to the large size of the diversion between Broadway and Kendall/ MIT, the volume of buses involved, traffic, and other circumstances,” Battiston said. Meg Guliford, a Ph.D. student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, also had a hard time finding the shuttle buses between the Davis station and Kendall/MIT station, even though riders were only notified about closures between the Kendall/ MIT station and Broadway station. “There was nobody there to tell me exactly what to do. [The sign] just said ‘shuttle bus,’ but there was nothing on the signage that said where those buses going towards Harvard Square would actually be picking us up. We all went to where the buses normally are at the bus terminal on
College Avenue. I just sat there and waited with other people. Nobody told us it was across the street,” she said. Guliford added that it would have made the change easier to navigate if there were people at the station directing riders to where the shuttle buses were located, saying that several people gave up on finding the shuttle buses and instead called an Uber or Lyft. Guliford added that although the shuttle bus program is annoying, it is not a significant obstacle for riders. “It was inconvenient, but it wasn’t insurmountable. I’d rather you get it fixed now than when winter comes, when it’s icy out and conditions are more tenuous, and people are having to stand outside and wait for a bus to get somewhere. Get it fixed, just let me know where I’m supposed to be,” she said.
Rent control bill faces uphill climb in legislature RENT
continued from page 1 “This is a battle to protect and maintain the fabric, the soul of our community,” the mayor said. “We need our state leaders and the governor to understand it is a crisis and act like it’s a crisis.” Curtatone added that he understands the economic concerns about rent control, but he argues that rents that eat more than 30% of income and force longtime residents out of their communities is far worse. Additionally, he said that people should not fear the return of oldschool rent control, pointing to recently implemented policies in Oregon that he says allow more flexibility. Still, the effects of the rent control of the ’70s and ’80s are a central point of contention in the debate, and long-time Somerville residents may still remember when the city last had rent control in the ’70s. Steve Bremis, a local real estate agent, does. “I saw rent control … and it was not good, in fact it was horrible,” he said. “Everybody seems to forget the code word for Somerville was Slumerville. There was a reason for that.” Somerville implemented rent control in 1970, which ended in 1979. Under that law, the rents of some 10,000 units were frozen at 1969 prices and landlords had to petition a special commission for rent increases, according to a 1979 Harvard Crimson article. It all came to an end in December 1978 at one of the most raucous meetings of the Board of Aldermen in the city’s history, the Globe reported at the time. Residents packed the chamber, giving impassioned speeches for and against the measure, which eventually passed 6 to 4.
Bremis, who got his start in real estate two years later, now chairs the Somerville Property Owners Coalition, a group of more than 250 residents that formed to oppose the city’s condominium conversion ordinance this summer and plans to oppose rent control. He says rent control limited the profits that landlords could make but did nothing to reduce the cost of purchasing or renovating an apartment. So many landlords, he said, took their apartments off the market or converted them to other uses because they were no longer profitable, while others stopped doing renovations. It will be the same-old story if rent control makes a comeback, Bremis argues. “Why would I spend $20,000 putting on a new roof, or buy a property and spend all this money to fix it up if I’m going to get pennies on the dollar back from rent?” Bremis said. David Sims, an economist at Brigham Young University, conducted an analysis that shows that rent-controlled units were less likely to undergo renovation or large scale maintenance and that landlords tended to forgo small repairs as well, reducing property values both in cities with rent control and those that surround them. Furthermore, Sims found that because rent control increases demand for apartments but reduces supply, it gives landlords more choice over who they accept as tenants, and they tend to pick wealthier people who are seen as more likely to pay rent on time. “You actually get more people who are poor and lower income living in Cambridge after rent control ends than you do before,” he said in an interview
with the Daily. “If you can’t compete on price, you compete on whatever the landlord’s prejudices or desires are.” Sims also cautioned that some evidence shows that when rent control reduces rents in one community, it tends to increase them in the neighboring communities. This is especially relevant for Tufts, which straddles two cities and where rent control in one could increase rents in the other. Michelle Wu, a Boston city councilor, dismissed warnings like Sims’ and of her own former professors at the Oct. 29 rally. “I’m an economics major from college. I’m told all these things about how ‘don’t worry, supply and demand will reach that equilibrium,’” Wu, a Harvard graduate, said. “We know from decades of experience, and even just from the five, six years that I’ve been in office, that hasn’t worked.” Despite the rally and support from Wu, Curtatone and 17 co-sponsors in the legislature, the bill has gotten a chilly reception on Beacon Hill since it was filed this January. Connolly says he and Elugardo plan to keep building public pressure in favor of their proposal and hope to get a public hearing before the Joint Committee on Housing prior to the end of the year. However, Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Honan, a Boston Democrat, told WGBH his priority is the governor’s bill. Wherever the bill ends up, Sosa, the tenant, says she is staying put in her apartment. After finding out about the rent increase, she went to a tenant organization that is helping her fight eviction. “No, no, no,” she said. “You’re not going to get $700 from me.”
Events on the Hill — Week of Dec. 1 by Austin Clementi
Executive News Editor
MONDAY “Civic Life Lunch — Political Communications in the Trump Era” Details: Philippe Reines, a spokesman and advisor to Hillary Clinton who is famous for being Donald Trump’s placeholder during debate preparations, will be joining the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life in the Civic Life Lunch series. Where and when: Rabb Room, LincolnFilene Hall; 12–1 p.m.
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TUESDAY “Robert Black Plays Philip Glass: Insomniac Dos and Don’ts” Details: Robert Black, a double bass virtuoso, will be playing Philip Glass’ “The
Not-Doings of an Insomniac” (2015), which Black commissioned and features compositions by Glass and poetry readings. Where and when: Distler Performance Hall; 8–10 p.m. WEDNESDAY “The Jonathan Moore Memorial Lecture ‘The Education of an Idealist: What I Have Learned Inside and Outside Government’ with Amb. Samantha Power” Details: In its inaugural Jonathan Moore Memorial Lecture on Ethics and Global Leadership, the Institute for Global Leadership will host Ambassador Samantha Power, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. The event will be followed by a book signing of her memoir, “The Education of an Idealist” (2019).
Where and when: ASEAN Auditorium, Cabot Intercultural Center; 6–7 p.m. “Jumbo Knish Factory’s Fall Dance Party” Details: Jewish music group Jumbo Knish Factory will host a dance party showcasing what they’ve learned this semester with the help of Malka Benjamin. Where and when: Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center; 8–10 p.m.
FRIDAY “Tufts Goes to the December 6th Climate Strike!” Details: A contingent from Sunrise Movement Tufts will gather outside Sophia Gordon Hall to make their way to Boston to join other activists in the next global climate strike. Where and when: Sophia Gordon Hall; 10 a.m.–2 p.m.